1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to hypervelocity kinetic energy penetrators and, more particularly, is directed towards a novel kinetic energy penetrator that will separate in flight into "n" stages of independent penetrators which follow each other by predetermined distances or time until target impact.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Kinetic energy projectiles are vehicles which are launched from large caliber gun tubes at very high velocities and aimed at various targets. For effective lethality, the velocities of these kinetic energy projectiles range from several to tens of times the speed of sound. The mass of these projectiles, along with the speed, determine the kinetic energy that will be transferred to the target on impact. This kinetic energy, E, is represented by (mass * velocity.sup.2). The objective of these projectiles is to penetrate armor and other targets with the most lethality.
Terminal ballistics science has established that greater armor penetration depths can be achieved from a kinetic energy weapon if the same kinetic energy, E, impacting an armored target is split into smaller energy pulses, each of E/n value, impacting the same point on the target in succession of millisecond intervals. Consequently, it can be appreciated that a kinetic energy projectile that takes advantage of this terminal ballistic characteristic will be a substantial improvement over conventional kinetic energy projectiles.